Help: white growth on goldfish eye

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eady

Aquarium Advice Newbie
Joined
Jan 21, 2017
Messages
1
Hi there,

This is my first post here, and unfortunately, I am reporting a sick fish. My 4 year old goldfish suffered nitrate poisoning and now is having a white growth (perhaps fungi) on its right eye. I did not adjust the automatic feeder correctly

I came back from a trip on Thursday evening, and found this poor fish lying at the bottom sideways, almost unconscious.I checked the water parameters with a stripe, which showed nitrate too high (>100 mg/L) and pH < 6.5. I think the cause was overfeeding by the feeding machiane.

I did a 75% water change immediately and cleaned the gravel. Nitrate dropped to about 30-40 mg/L. I did not want to drop nitrate any further immediately, as I read somewhere that a sudden drop could cause stress. I added about two tea spoons of aquarium salt.

I did another 25% water change on Friday morning, and on Friday evening the goldfish was swimming around and looking for food. I have been continuing with 2x 25% daily water changes. Today (Saturday) Nitrate is < 10, nitrite=0, ammonia=0,.. and the fish is doing much better. It has started to swim around and eat peas.

I noticed also on Thursday that his eyes were different. Both of them were a bit cloudier than usual. Starting yesterday, one of the eyes started to bloat and become even more cloudy, and now, it has grown a white cottony layer on top of the entire eye (pictures attached). Although the growth is on only one eye, unfortunately I suspect that both eyes are blind as it looks for food only at the bottom and its movement behavior has changed significantly. I hope I am wrong and the poor thing can recover.

I went to the pet store today and got some anti-fungal medication (Sera Mycopur) with copper chloride, copper sulfate, and Acriflavin in it. It was the only thing available. I added the recommended dose of 1 mL per 20 L. I also added the required amount to the fresh water (for water changes) to keep the concentration constant in the tank. It has been a few hours and I am hoping that it gets rid of the eye infection.

Can it be that the white stuff on the eye is not fungi but bacteria? Should I add an antibiotic to the water? Although my fish is eating peas, I am not seeing any poop. Should I keep feeding it or let it rehabilitate a bit before feeding again? Should I feed anything else? Should I give it salt baths? I read somewhere that chlorophyll bath is supposed to be good for detox. Is it a myth? I would appreciate any help and advice.

Thanks!
 

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Separate him into another spare aquarium or a big bowl and use fungal infection med and also 50% water change everyday
He or she should recover in a week ...
 
Last edited:
Hi, remember not to over do it on the meds. I know it's easy to panic when our water babies are sick, but clean water with good parameters is always the best medication. I'd recommend trying only one med at a time and slowly weaning him on and off of the meds you give him. He's probably quite vulnerable to shock right now.
 
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